Men's College Soccer
Siena College 2, Rider University 1 (ot)
LAWRENCEVILLE-The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game to Siena on a controversial goal in overtime Friday night. "I thought we deserved a better fate tonight," said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso.
Siena (7-5, 3-0 MAAC) scored just 31 seconds into overtime on a rebound that appeared to be an offsides. "It is hard to see from here but it looked pretty blatant that the guy was offside," Inverso said.
Saint Matt Hemsley took a shot that was blocked by a Rider defender, but the rebound went to Sindre Ek, who blasted the ball into the net for the game-winner.
Rider senior Dave Benavidez (Peoria, Ill/Richwoods) took a direct kick from freshman James Greco (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris) and scored on a header to tie the score at 1-1 with 18 minutes left to play.
The goal for Benavidez was his team-high third of the season.
Siena got on the board in the 26th minute.
Rider (2-9-1, 1-1-1 MAAC) out-shot Siena 17-16, but Siena had seven shots on goal compared to five for Rider. "Siena is a very good team," Inverso said. "They are in first place for a reason. But tonight I thought we out-played them, especially the later part of the first half and the entire second half."
Rider senior goalkeeper Matt Perrella (North Brunswick, N.J./N. Brunswick) made five saves.
Rider and Siena tied 0-0 last season in Loudonville, NY.
The Broncs lost 4-1 to Siena the last time the Saints came to Lawrenceville (2010). Rider and Siena have now met 18 times since the series began in 1997 with Rider winning five and there have been four ties.
The last time Rider defeated Siena was 2004.
Rider hosts MAAC-rival Marist Sunday at 1pm. "Considering where we were at this time last year, considering where we were at the start of this season, we have improved 100 percent," Inverso said, "and we're going to keep going. This is a confident group that now feels that they can win, and they can."
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